Don’t get me wrong: I love New York City. Beyond doubt or dispute, The Big Apple has to be one of the most amazing places on this small but mighty planet. But good Lord, I need some grass.
When I first arrived in New York City, it was my dog, Chipotle, that suffered from grass withdrawal. She refused to pee on the sidewalk, and so it became my life’s mission to seek out the small patches of grass scattered across this expansive city. I’m pleased to report that Chipotle has adjusted – she now pees wherever she pleases.
I, on the other hand, have regressed. It is now I who craves the green stuff. I long to be barefoot! I want to see nature and trees and wild animals. I want to go somewhere – anywhere – and not see millions of people. If it’s quiet that you want, it’s not quiet that you’ll get in a city as sleepless at New York City.
New York City is like vodka. Some people can drink it straight. But the rest of us might need to water it down. Being in New York City is like staring at the sun without shades. It’s way too intense for me!
I love visiting New York City. But when my time is up in 12 days, and I head up north to New Hampshire for my next adventure, I’ll be ready to say goodbye to city living and hello to trees, nature, quiet and… grass.
Have you ever been to New York City? Do you think you could live here and be happy, sane and grounded?
July 19, 2010 at 9:34 am
Have been to NY 4 month ago… only for 4 days… would love to go there again… maybe in winter… who knows
just to warn you… if you are there too and i see you on the street i will hug you… and much more
July 19, 2010 at 9:37 am
I love the city, it’s one of my favorite places on earth. i only live an hour away so i try to be there when I can, but i do understand what you mean davey.
I could imagine myself living there, I love city life. but I would also start to yearn to see a patch of grass here and there
July 19, 2010 at 9:42 am
I’m upset you feel that way Davey
I truly love the city. I guess when you grow up around a certain environment, everything else will seem different. I know exactly how you feel though. I’ve got family in Delaware, where it’s all grass, trees and farms, and I die from the boredom and quiet! I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else but here in NYC. I love the noise, it’s just a big part of who I am and things are even more peaceful to me when I’m surrounded by tons of people.
July 19, 2010 at 9:54 am
i completely understand. but have managed to live and thrive to a degree in the big city for going on 12 years. luckily for the past 11 years ive had a backyard at my disposal…which you are more than welcome to use.
July 19, 2010 at 9:54 am
I feel the same way about NYC! But why NH? You should go up to Maine, it is soo much nicer.
July 19, 2010 at 10:03 am
I live about 20min outside the city and it’s only this summer that I’m finding its true beauty. I’ve been almost twice a week with my friend while we attempt to finish our “Key to the City” adventure and every time we go in we end up in central park for a few hours and I’m always barefoot. My feet are black by the time I get home but it’s well worth it.
July 19, 2010 at 10:07 am
New York City is rough. After living in SoHo for four months, I packed up home and settled down in Williamsburg. Huge difference. My dogs have grass to pee on, shade to sit in and parks to run through. I still work in Midtown, though, so the maddening din of tourists, sirens and garbage is somehow omni-present. At least there’s home.
So grounded, sane and happy? You bet.
Enjoy your last 12 days. See you around.
July 19, 2010 at 10:15 am
I agree with ABE about dealing with the craziness of the city when you have grown up around it much easier, but i also yearn for grass and being barefoot lol. That’s why I love going to Central Park, Bryant Park, Battery Park (when all the way downtown), and Jones Beach (awesome beach only 45 minute drive out of the city). These are the places I go to get away from all the millions of people I see on a daily basis. Not that there is anything wrong with the city becuase I lived in NYC all my life (30 minutes by subway from Time Square) but I wish there were more tranquile places to go and relax.
July 19, 2010 at 10:23 am
It’s a nice place to visit but I’m not sure I really want to live there. The buildings are too big, everything is too gray. I live in Boston and am always happy to come home to trees, red brick, and grass.
July 19, 2010 at 10:44 am
You are so right! You will love NH. My parents lived in amherst and my uncle still does. It’s a great place.
I live in milwaukee but still crave the countryside and fortunately it’s not that far to drive to see it. don’t forget all the wonderful memories you are making – life is about memories because when this life is over, memories are all we have to take with us. And even just a small spot of grass – is worth rolling around in once in awhile!
July 19, 2010 at 10:58 am
I lived in Laconia Lake Winnepesauke area for 12 years. Its beautiful Davey in the summer. Enjoy the treehouse!
July 19, 2010 at 11:02 am
Nothing feels as good as taking sneakers and socks off and running toes through freshly cut lawn.
July 19, 2010 at 11:22 am
I absolutely love NYC, it is my Gaytopia®. I was there last weekend, and I walked the Brooklyn bridge too after I saw your tweet recommending it. Thanks for the idea, I took lots of great pictures! But I see how you might get tired of it after a few months. I’m definitely going back next weekend, though.
July 19, 2010 at 11:39 am
Having been to New York City quite a few times when my ex and I were together, I can totally relate to this post. We would travel there often to meet with one of our business partners, Alfred (orthodox Jew). It was always pleasant to see Alfred but I could only take New York for about three days before I began longing for grass underfoot and blue sky overhead. Along about the fifth [day] I more than ready to return home to Texas, CRAVING anything besides the skyscrapers overhead and the loud, incessant honking and dodging of yellow cabs. Central Park is beautiful but you eventually have to leave the park to head back to the office or the hotel. ROFL!
Even so, there are some beautiful sites in New York… It’s just a different kind of life; one that a person has to adjust to over time I guess.
July 19, 2010 at 12:11 pm
NYC is interesting but I couldn’t live there. I own a house and have a yard in an urban area of another city. I have a higher standard of living for the fraction of the cost of living in NYC. The amount of money I don’t spend on living expenses can be used to fly to NYC or other major cities anytime.
July 19, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Sounds like you need a vacation. I have a very beautiful bed and breakfast in Canada, with lots of grass and nature! Let me know if you need a get-away.
July 19, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Hey Davey,
You should come to Cancun next time. There are plenty of nature and you can even meet some turtles on the beach at night from Jun-Aug. Its trully a pretty place!
Cheers
July 19, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I forgot to say : be our guest!
July 19, 2010 at 1:55 pm
I have been to NY City and I could not live there. I did spend a few years living in Philadelphia. Granted its not as large as NY City but is still plenty large, too large for me. I couldn’t wait to get back to my home town in Virginia where I had trees, grass, mountains, lakes, rivers and streams. No, NY City or any other large city is just not the place for me.
July 19, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin’ is the life for me.
Land spreadin’ out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
New York is where I’d rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.
…The chores.
…The stores.
…Fresh air.
…Times Square
You are my wife.
Good bye, city life.
Green Acres we are there.
July 19, 2010 at 2:41 pm
There’s plenty of grass in NYC. Light up and enjoy!
July 19, 2010 at 2:44 pm
I am sure you will soon get your fill of nature at the tree house and might then actually have moments where you will miss the city. Make certain you get to partake in 101 things nearby.
July 19, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Maybe why I love Boston; there is still some grass. And New Hampshire being my birth state… go north my friend! Maybe you just need to meet some rich people with those roof top gardens?
July 19, 2010 at 3:46 pm
I’ve visited NYC twice. Once in the winter and once in the summer. I loved it both times. I love the highrises, the subway and the shopping. Walking across the Brooklyn bridge was incredible too! There is a certain energy about NYC that I love. I would only live there is I had lots of money. Until then I will live in Portland in my own highrise!
Love your site Davey! You’re the best!!
July 19, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Too funny! I was singing this as I read thru the comments, and voila! Here are the lyrics!
I grew up outside of NYC, about an hour away, and I’ve always loved to visit. But there is no way I could ever live there. I need space to breathe and relative quiet. And thru my travels I have found myself in Northern California, and loving it. To each his own!
July 19, 2010 at 5:42 pm
I saw this on TV yesterday! hahaha
July 19, 2010 at 6:20 pm
We have grass, we just keep it in the parks. : )
I understand how you feel. During the winter it doesn’t matter so much, in the spring in summer a place in the country or at the ocean is a great thing. Or a friend who has a summer house is a even better thing.
July 19, 2010 at 7:53 pm
I was on Long Island this weekend and was taken away by the quiet there. I did not want my voice to shatter the beautiful that was silence. After five year here, I find NYC too busy. There’s so much pressure to do that we forget to just be.
July 19, 2010 at 7:54 pm
I’ve been out NYC once 10 years ago, and was there for 4 days, and I was ready to come home to quiet and grass! the thing I think is unfair is the people who lives right down in NYC, and has dogs.. I think it’s not fair for the dog to be living in that kind of life!
July 19, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Hi. I have the best of both worlds, a place in Western New Jersey and studio co-op in Manhattan PLUS a great partner in NYC! I currently work 1/2 way between the two places so I can go back and forth with ease, by train or by car.
July 19, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Hey! I spent my summer in Ithaca, New York (about 5 hours from the city), and I can honestly recommend you visit because I have never seen so many trees, parks, waterfalls, and open grasslands. I’m coming to NYC this Thursday-Monday since my internship is finished. Looking forward to seeing the concrete jungle. I’ll be looking out for you too!
July 19, 2010 at 8:54 pm
That is why I love Bryant Park (http://cheztudor.blogspot.com/2009/04/bryant-park.html). It provides a great place to take your shoes off in the summer in the middle of a busy workday. Or at the end of the day on your way back to Grand Central.
Drop me a line if you want to have lunch in NYC before you go. In August and September, I’ll be in northern New Hampshire. Give me a shout if you’d like to hike some hills up there.
July 19, 2010 at 10:05 pm
I lived in NY for 6 months while working on a project years ago. Since those months were mostly cold and wintery, I thought the longing for grass was from the abundance of snow. Reading this I wonder, maybe the snow was better.
July 19, 2010 at 10:13 pm
i love grass too, I want to visit new york city but only visit. I live in california in the bay area close to san francisco the gay mecca ( I so call it) and its great you have the city life but its more quiet and peacful all in one I love it over here but your right too much is a bad thing.
July 19, 2010 at 11:13 pm
NYC is a great, amazing city but not a place i’d want to call home. But not because i wouldn’t be sane or grounded there… that would pertain no matter what my location
.
July 20, 2010 at 1:53 am
HELL no. i wouldnt be able to sleep. i wouldnt keep my sanity. big crowds overload my empathic senses. being in a city of that size longer than a month would drive me insane.
July 20, 2010 at 1:54 am
when i first read the title, i thought this was gonna be about weed. lol.
July 20, 2010 at 7:39 am
Eh
73 YO NH Native here in Manchester. Try Portsmouth, it’s really the gayest place around. Concord is also nice. I’ve done the Long Trail End To End. I would recommend AMC Madison Spring Hut to start. Welcome to the Granite State.
Johnny
July 20, 2010 at 8:00 am
I generally thrive on the energy of the people around me. In my visits to New York, I feel more alive so to speak. Right now, I’m living with two roommates who spend most of their time watching TV and being miserable, and I find myself being lazy and miserable, too…it’s pretty terrible.
July 20, 2010 at 8:57 am
Right there that’s exactly why I had to leave Paris years ago and now live in green and quiet Brittany. I’ve never been to NYC before but I know I couldn’t take it for more than a week straight. Too much tarmac+concrete between my feet and the actual soil ground.
)
a big great hug from France
Seb xoxox
July 20, 2010 at 10:13 am
Yeah, my dog Sam used to have the same problem. We came from California, where he adopted me, to spend a few months in NYC. He could only poop on the square meter space or earth around the base of a tree in the sidewalk (when there was one to be found). Then we moved to Montreal where small parks abound in every neighborhood including an entire mountain of green in the middle of the city. Sam could finally poop away, contented at last.
Be well,
July 20, 2010 at 10:19 am
I lived in the city for one year when I was 30. There is a reason it’s called the Big Apple, it’s fantastic! I was living on 5 hrs of sleep per night trying to pack in as much as I could. The museums, theater, buskers, night life dinner and dancing not to mention Fire Island. I was like a crazy person and when I realized that it was time to move back to my Colorado home where I’ve been ever since. I loved my experience there but I to missed walking barefoot in the grass but most of all the big clear blue sky. Peace.
July 20, 2010 at 11:29 am
I have lived in NYC for just over a year now, before that I lived in Paris and before that Shanghai and I grew up in Stockholm. Honestly I think living in big cities takes practice if you are from a small city. I love it and I could never imagine not living in NYC, Paris or any similar city. I need the pulse and the feeling of being really really insignificant to fuel my desire to create something to stand out. I guess I need a city against me to fuel my progress.
July 20, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Davey, Correction: New York City is like CHEAP vodka, whereas Chicago (the REAL THING in megalopolis on the North American continent) is like THE BEST vodka avaialable anywhere! Yeah, N.Y.C. is exciting, but Chicago is that much more so. Since I never have lived (only visited many times) these two great cities, I am not biassed by local roots affectionate bias.
There is even more grass for your dog to pee on in Chicago, which is a more livable place than N.Y.C., despite being even more impressively urban.
Pax, Jerry Parker
July 20, 2010 at 1:40 pm
I lived in NYC for 10 years, and it was the favorite time of my life! It is so exciting, so alive, and so stimulating. Is it noisy, dirty, grassless and annoying, too? You betcha! But the positives vastly more outweigh the negatives in my opinion. It is still the center of our culture, in many ways, and I think every little gay boy (and probably lesbian, too!) should live there for some time in his/her life. For grass: go to Central Park or one of the other parks all around the City. Big cities have a beauty all their own: the architecture, the diversity of people you find there, even the sounds of the City can almost become symphonic after a time. I LOVE NEW YORK!!!!
July 20, 2010 at 4:01 pm
¡Cómo me gustaría estar allí contigo! (How I wish I could be there with you). One of my proposition in my life is to visit/know NYC very soon.
Davey, I love your blog, dude! I do. I read it every day specially today’s topic, though, tired at work. From Spain (World Cup Champions 2010) Muchas Gracias y un saludo!
Melvin
July 20, 2010 at 6:33 pm
I could never live there. I live in Washington DC now, and that’s the biggest and craziest I can get. NYC is ten times crazier, and far more crowded. It’s nice to visit, but I’d never go to live there.
July 20, 2010 at 7:03 pm
I hear your dilema. There are ways to live in NYC and still experience more of nature. When you speak of NYC, you’re talking about Manhattan….and within a thirty minute commute, I enjoy, tree lined streets, a lovely park that is a short walk away, a backyard with both a vegetable and flower gardens and mixture of neighbors that ‘does’ include a visible and thriving gay population…So let’s be clear that ‘your’ longing for the feel of grass on your barefeet, is more due to where you choose to live in NYC…which to remind the rest of the readers, is more than Manhattan. Living and loving the borough of Queens!
Kenn
July 20, 2010 at 8:43 pm
I could never live in a big city again. I grew up in the suburbs with a big yard with lots of grass. I lived in down town Providence, RI for 4 years. I could not wait to move back to the country. That is why I moved to VT where there is tons of grass, trees, wild animals, and fresh air.
July 20, 2010 at 8:45 pm
I’ve been in New York now for 3 weeks and it certainly is getting to me! Glad I’m only here for two more weeks, otherwise I’d die, although NYC is fun with all its nooks and crannies.
Where I come from its just plain desert, so thats what i miss in particular, the desert sand, the beaches and the CAMELS!
So i think you’re not particularly missing the grass but missing the initial environment you came from.. just my 2 cents from kuwait